Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
23 Apr 2024
Reply rate
100.0 %
Usually responds within 2 days
Feedback
18
Email verified
Badges (3)
Details
Description
Hi 👋 Welcome to our profile. Thanks for dropping in. We've been hosting since May 2022 and it's been a lot of fun 🤩
Please L@@K at our calendar before sending us a message requesting a date to stay with us. If it is red, we don't have vacancy.
FYI- Just want to share this near the top, so we can save some people the effort of messaging us. We don't host couples or two workawayers at once. 🚫👥
Now, onto the good stuff or just a little about us :-) We live on 5 acres in a log home. We own 5 horses, 2 rats & 2 dogs. We are located between Enderby and Salmon Arm in the North Okanagan Shuswap region of British Columbia. My husband Mike works for the federal government and I work for a local financial institution. Our two children are ages 13 and 16, so our helpers must like sassy, funny teenagers. We are a very active family with a small property, large but not too large of a home. We always have plenty of work we need help with. I ride our horses competitively in barrel racing and our daughter also rides too. We love our home, our location and our lifestyle and would love to share our experiences with someone else.
So what type of workawayer are we looking for? Workawayers who enjoy their time here the most, usually have these qualities:
- is good with horses & wants to take care of them 🐴
- is a dog lover 🐶 ♥️
- outgoing and adventurous 🤩
- has a good sense of humour 😂
- enjoys being outside with nature 🌲
- likes the lakes and water (we swim and go boating in the warmer months) 🚤 🏊♀️
- independent and comfortable on their own from morning until around 4:00pm most days
- a morning person or at least willing to get up by 8am (we have coffee and tea for those who need the caffeine boost, like me) ☕️
- wants to experience country living and be away from large cities and night life
- cleans up after themselves 🧼
- is self-sufficient when it comes to meals, as you will be making your own breakfast and lunches 🥪
- is a team player & willing to help 👏🏻
- has attention to detail, and wants to learn. There can be very specific instructions for our animals.
-will ask questions if they are unsure or need more information
- in the winter we try to go downhill skiing every weekend 🎿 ❄️
A few things to mention:
-There is no public transit (please be sure you understand what this means) from our home to larger centres. 🚫 🚌
- We don't host couples or two workawayers at once. 🚫👥
-We can accommodate a camper van or a rental car. 🚙
- We are unable to accommodate pets 🚫🐶
- We don't host those who smoke or are vegan. No offence to the vegans, it's just too difficult for me when it comes to meal planning and cooking. Smoking is just gross 🤢 & not safe in our fire prone area 🚭
- We can totally accept vegetarian but we do eat a lot of meat 🥩 😄
Availability: I try and keep our calendar updated. We also don't host over Christmas. We also don't accept long term stays, as we like to allow an opportunity for other workawyers to experience our place too. Plus, Canada is huge and beautiful and we think you should be exploring as much as possible too! 😊
As your hosts we do our best to help you explore the area! During the summer if you want to paddle board on a beautiful lake, or hike a trail, we will do our best to drop you off and pick you up or we will join you if possible :-) Being a host is rewarding and I enjoy sharing what our beautiful area has to offer. We will also invite you to join us on adventures, such as boating or hiking, maybe even camping too.
Let me know if you have any questions. I am happy to answer them for you 💜
Types of help and learning opportunities
Language practice
Teaching
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
We really enjoy the cultural exchange the occurs while hosting. Not only is it rewarding to host and teach our guests about our way of life, it is just as rewarding for us to learn about different ways of living. We can share what we know about Canadian education, government, law, politics, food, religions & pretty much any else that interests you. If interested we also help you try some of Canada's culinary/beverage delicacies such as Poutine, Nanaimo Bars, S'moores & a cold Caesar.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
So what type of help do we need?
Spring, summer & fall consists of mostly outdoor help.
This can include but is not limited to:
-feeding horses
-cleaning pens
- picking rocks
-cleaning stalls
-fence maintenance
-organizing tack room
-packing and unpacking the horse trailer, polishing tack
-grooming horses.
-gardening & weeding
-lawn care & plant care
-painting projects
-splitting fire wood with an automatic wood splitter
-grooming riding arena
Other duties anytime of year include housekeeping duties with multiple tasks and a variety of tasks such as:
-House cleaning
-baking cookies/treats
-organizing
-cooking meals or meal prep
-general light duty maintenance.
During the winter, there are some additional winter specific chores:
-snow blowing
-shovelling snow
-salting the walkway
-bringing firewood to the house
-keeping the fireplaces burning so the house stays warm.
We do our best to serve good food and we try our best to make our home warm and inviting. Our kids are both in French immersion school, so any bit of French is always great too!
We will do our best to provide you with an opportunity to ride one of our horses. Her name is Mouse because she's small.
In the winter I do ride but it's cold and not always easy to do or enjoyable, as it's cold. I ride in the winter not because it's fun or nice, but because I need to exercise my horses.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: FluentThis host offers a language exchange
Only our children are fluent in French. Although a little shy to speak it to someone who is French. I am always interested in learning about other languages and we would be willing to help you learn English. Mike and I only know very few words of any other languages but we will have fun trying to learn.
Accommodation
We live in a large log home. It is approximately 3600 sq or 335 square meters. Welcome to Canada where we use metric and imperial at the same time to confuse us all 😂 You will have your own bedroom with a queen sized bed, a large closet and views of the mountain. There is a large outside deck and a hot tub for your enjoyment.
What else ...
Visit SilverStar Mountain Resort
Cross country ski at Larch Hills Cross Country
Hike the Enderby Cliffs
Enjoy the shores of Shuswap Lake
Visit Margaret Falls
Go ice fishing on Gardom Lake
Check out Shuswap Trail Alliance (hiking and mountain biking trail maps)
Visit wineries
Enjoy the many lakes
Float the Shuswap River
Shop at a local farmers market
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We have fibre optic high speed internet so you’re welcome to work on your own projects on your own time.
Space for parking camper vans
This host can provide space for campervans.
How many Workawayers can stay?
One
Hours expected
4-5 hours/day, 5 days/week
Feedback (12)
We went skiing, ice skating, tubing, attended a hockey game, watched people fire up a hot air balloon, and visited my favorite place in every city—the library. I even got to see a moose, which was such an incredible experience. I loved spending… read more
The work was difficult to start with - only because I… read more
The work was easy going and fair. Nothing was super hard and most of it didn‘t even feel like work at all. I mostly took care… read more
Photos
Feedback
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Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(5.0)
We went skiing, ice skating, tubing, attended a hockey game, watched people fire up a hot air balloon, and visited my favorite place in every city—the library. I even got to see a moose, which was such an incredible experience. I loved spending… read more
The work was difficult to start with - only because I… read more
The work was easy going and fair. Nothing was super hard and most of it didn‘t even feel like work at all. I mostly took care… read more
Chantelle and Mike do their best to offer us opportunities to discover the region and do activities. They're also very friendly and patient, so if you're not comfortable in… read more
Chantelle is a very patient, thoughtful, fun and interesting person.
The work is not hard and I enjoyed working with the animals and out doors.
Most of the work was out doors with the horses or in the forest/garden.
All… read more
A big thank you to Chantelle and Mike for allowing me to live this experience in your magnificent house, with your animals. I had a wonderful month thanks to you.
Chantelle is friendly, patient and immediately puts you at ease. Her family is very welcoming and warm.… read more
Work was never too hard and sometimes even fun. Typical chores would be cleaning pens, feeding horses and keeping the kitchen clean. I also did some gardening, helping cut wood, unloading and cleaning the trailer, some organizing… read more
I'd like to work outside with the horses. I cleaned the pans and fet the horses in the evening. I helped Chantelle with the household.
She cooked really delicious - thanks for that :)
The kids are cute and funny too. I had a lot of fun there. The dog… read more
